The present invention relates in general to the shipping of glass panels, such as used in the manufacture of automotive windows and windshields, and, more specifically, to a rack assembly for shipping the glass panels that are used to manufacture such windows and windshields.
Automotive glass panels, such as glass panels used to manufacture automotive windows and windshields, are typically shipped from the glass supplier to the glass manufacturer in shipping containers or rack assemblies. A typical rack assembly is selected depending upon the particular size of the automotive glass to be shipped and formed from steel members, usually square and/or angle shaped steel, which are welded together to define a fixed or non-adjustable rack assembly. The bottom or base portion of the rack assembly usually carries a plurality of wooden boards. The glass panels are loaded onto the rack assembly and then wrapped and/or “metal” banded to secure the glass panels therein. Wood boards and/or cardboard, foam, or other materials may be used in the securing of the glass panels to the rack assembly. The glass panel loaded rack assembly is then loaded onto a trailer or rail car and transported to a manufacturing plant and removed from the rack assembly. The unloaded rack assembly is then shipped back on the trailer or rail car to the manufacturer for use again.
Unfortunately, since the rack assembly is non-adjustable it is made to carry the largest sized automotive glass panel, i.e., windshield glass used to manufacture the windshield or the windshield itself. Thus, when the rack assembly is used to carry smaller sized automotive glass, i.e., smaller windshield/window glass used to manufacture the windshield/window, the rack assembly is oversized. This results in a wasteful or inefficient shipping of the automotive glass panels in terms of the utilization of the space of the rack assembly and the increased costs associated therewith. Also, since the rack assembly is fixed (i.e., cannot be broken down), after the glass is unloaded and the rack assembly is returned to the supplier the unloaded rack assembly occupies the same amount of space that it occupied when it was loaded. Thus, it can be seen that returning of the unloaded rack assembly also is wasteful and inefficient. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a rack assembly which when loaded could efficiently ship the outboard glass panels and which when unloaded could efficiently be returned for loading again.